Hugh laughed and raised his hand, "and there you have, in a nutshell illustrated why you are the one who writes the words and I'm the one who interprets other people's. Like you know how what you need, and you think it sounds like a challenge, and I think it sounds impossible," he shook his head, still smiling, and reached for his water. His gaze settled on Theo's face for a moment and he added lightly. "You might be a little broody, but I mean that in the best of ways. I can't speak to the hero bit - although, you have saved me from a few nights of utter boredom this summer, which feels heroic from where I'm standing," he reached for the cup of water to take a sip.
The implication was that 'comfortable' might be a diplomatic term, which was something Hugh understood all too well. "My brother might be the furthest thing from an ally I've got. My sister is - sometimes." She'd at least come to his plays with his mother sometimes and he couldn't remember his brother ever having done so. "Maybe not a strong ally, but enough of one."
But the tease, and the smile was welcomed, and Hugh laughed again, this time leaning back in his chair. "I am so done with 'friends'," he repeated the airquote tone as he shook his head. "And they might have something 'just for friends', but I have been working on that a little bit this summer. And I mean, somewhat successfully I think, cause we're here talking." He'd liked watching films with Billy, sailing with Atticus, and there was definitely still room for more people in his life - a lot more room if he were honest - but it was a start. More seriously: "This summer has been better, in spite of everything." And even with everything that had blown-up in his face in the spring - god did he do really terribly at relationships in the spring - he did feel as if the summer had been better. He'd made some possible fiends, and he'd gotten back on the stage, and that was enough of a project to keep him mostly distracted.
He considered. "They teach yoga classes down at the community center and I have gone a couple of times, but sometimes I do a sequence on the docks there by my boathouse in the mornings. I figure I don't have a boat and I ought to use it for something, and if you wanted, you could join me sometime."